“One Mom’s Tale of Using CBD to Cure ‘Morning Sickness’”

Prior to becoming pregnant, cannabis was a part of my everyday life. I would either enjoy a joint or a bowl after a long day at work or treat myself to a nice edible before going to see a movie with my husband on the weekend. Not to mention, marijuana is a great cure for hangovers if you had too many cocktails or glasses of wine the night before.

As soon as I found out I became pregnant, I stopped smoking and consuming marijuana products entirely, of course, for the safety of my unborn child. Smoking anything and being exposed to carcinogens is not recommended by many health organizations and doctors.

Once I hit week 6, the dreaded morning sickness kicked in. Mind you, this wasn’t ‘morning sickness’ – this was full-blown, all day long vomit sessions and races to the bathroom. It didn’t matter what time of the day it was, I was throwing up. Too often I had to pull myself over on the side of the freeway while driving to or from work to throw up in a cup (sorry for that visual, but it’s true). I was miserable, couldn’t hold down any food, had absolutely 0 energy, was nauseous all the time and experienced symptoms of what felt like the absolute longest hangover of my life.

I tried every single ‘anti nausea’ and pregnancy morning sickness hacks out there – eating saltines, ginger ale, ginger chews, preggo pops, those silly nausea wristbands, eating every two hours, not drinking water with my meals, eating bland foods. Nothing helped! My doctor wanted to prescribe me a medication to take, which would have cost me over $100 and I wasn’t too keen on taking a medication which side effects listed ‘drowsiness’ when I was already so tired I could barely keep my head up at work. Also, I typically stay away from pharmaceuticals as it is and like to go the more natural route of things.

After about two weeks of being so sick and helpless, my husband suggested that I look into using CBD to help my morning, ahem, all day sickness. If you’re not familiar with CBD, it stands for Cannabidiol which is one of many compounds, known as cannabinoids, in the cannabis plant. Unlike THC, the CBD compound is non-psychoactive and has no mind-altering side effects, thus, you won’t get ‘high’ from using CBD.

The human body produces its own cannabinoids and has its own cannabinoid receptors, called the CB1 and CB2 receptors (Medicalnewstoday.com). Research has shown that CBD has been proven to reduce chronic pain, has anti-seizure properties, reduce anxiety, and can be used for nausea relief (Medicalnewstoday.com). People who prefer to avoid pharmaceuticals due to their harmful side effects often choose to use CBD to treat their ailments.

While doing my research for the effects on CBD and the transfer through the placenta to the fetus, I found that most research that has been done has only focused on the effects of THC consumption during pregnancy and not CBD. I came to the conclusion after doing my personal research and consulting with my midwife that using CBD was something that I’d like to try to help with my morning sickness. I had used CBD in the past to help with hangovers, headaches and menstrual cramps, so I figured I would give it a try.

I felt far more comfortable taking an organic substance that derived from the hemp plant versus taking a pharmaceutical prescription drug to help with my horrible all day sickness and nausea. There are local marijuana shops in the state that I live in that sell CBD products which is where I purchased my CBD tincture, but you can also purchase CBD products on Amazon or directly from a certain brand that you can find online.

My husband brought home a CBD tincture from Select CBD brands (http://selectoil.com) which has minimal ingredients – CBD Oil, Coconut Oil, Chamomile, Passion Flower, Lavender Essential Oil, and Stevia. I wanted to be sure that the CBD oil I was taking didn’t have any additives and was 100% natural. Their brand also carries a lemon and peppermint-infused CBD drops. I would drop 1 full droplet into my water bottle and drink it throughout the day. The results were immediate and within the first day of use I went back from feeling like a normal human again with almost all of my nausea gone and I was only sick when I had a completely empty stomach.

I’m so thankful that I trusted my midwife and mama instincts, did my own research and avoided pharmaceutical drugs to help treat my morning sickness. Hopefully, this will help shed light on CBD products and encourage you to try your own! Always be sure to check the ingredients list on the CBD product you’re choosing to make sure that they’re using pure ingredients and that there are no unnecessary additives that could be harmful to you or that are not recommended during pregnancy.